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Data from: The curious case of the camelthorn: competition, coexistence, and nest-site limitation in a multispecies mutualism

Campbell H, Fellowes MDE, Cook JM

Date Published: June 29, 2015

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s9f7c

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Title

Vachellia erioloba ant-domatia survey results

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Description

These data were collected during field work conducted at Kuzikus Wildlife Reserve (23°13'S, 18°24'E, elevation 1340m) in Namibia (for full site description see Campbell et al. 2013, African Journal of Ecology 51:590-598). Surveys were completed in April, September and October 2011 for ant occupants within swollen-thorn domatia of camelthorn trees, Vachellia erioloba. Using secateurs, branches were removed from trees and thorns opened in the field to examine the contents. Thorns were surveyed from the tip of the branch inwards towards the trunk. We recorded microsite data on branch and thorn variables, and for the contents of a thorn we recorded ant species, an estimate of number of ants at each life stage (workers, alates, queens, and brood) and other thorn occupants.

AbstractMyrmecophyte plants house ants in domatia in exchange for protection from herbivores. Ant-myrmecophyte mutualisms exhibit two general patterns due to competition between ants for plant occupancy: i) domatia nest-sites are a limiting resource and ii) each individual plant hosts one ant species at a time. However, individual camelthorn trees (Vachellia erioloba) typically host two to four ant species simultaneously, often coexisting in adjacent domatia on the same branch. Such fine-grain spatial coexistence questions the conventional wisdom on ant-myrmecophyte mutualisms. Camelthorn ants appear not to be nest-site limited, despite low abundance of suitable domatia, and have random distributions of nest-sites within and across trees. These patterns suggest a lack of competition between ants for domatia and contrast strongly with other ant-myrmecophyte systems. Comparison of this unusual case with others suggests that spatial scale is crucial to coexistence or competitive exclusion involving multiple ant species. Furthermore, coexistence may be facilitated when co-occurring ant species diverge strongly on at least one niche axis. Our conclusions provide recommendations for future ant-myrmecophyte research, particularly in utilising multispecies systems to further our understanding of mutualism biology.